Russia on the verge of default, for the first time since 1918. After months of living in the balance, struggling with interpretations, quibbles and tricks, the country will in a few hours face the most striking effect of the financial battle triggered by the US and the EU after the invasion of Ukraine.
The grace period on approximately $ 100 million of unpaid bonds, blocked due to wide-ranging sanctions against the Kremlin, expires at midnight.
No official statement is expected from the markets, but if investors do not collect their money within the appointed time, tomorrow morning, according to the bond documents, it will technically go into default.
The event would actually have a more symbolic value than anything else, at least for now.
Russia is indeed a country economically,
financially and politically already marginalized for much of the West.
In addition, the bankruptcy would be due not to the lack of money on the part of the debtor but to the closure of the transfer channels by the creditors.
"Anyone can declare what they want and can try to attach any label to Russia. - said the Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov in recent days - but anyone who understands the situation knows that it is in no way a default. ".
